#47: Catarina Ricca (Ínclita Seaweed Solutions) – The Biotechnologist Who Learnt the Science of Selling

<p><a href="https://www.feddegobbi.com/walkandtalk" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Here is a link</a> to get more information about <em>The</em> <em>Ocean Age Walk &amp; Talk</em> and join the waitlist.<br /><br />Getting the science right turns out to be the easy part. Catarina Ricca trained as a biotechnologist and spent years in the lab before crossing over to the commercial side of the business. At Ínclita Seaweed Solutions she takes seaweed-based active ingredients into cosmetics, an industry with long buying cycles, gatekeepers at every stage, and firm ideas about what a product should look and smell like. This is a practical walk-through of how that market actually works and what it takes to get an ingredient into it, with many of the tactics being transferable to many other B2B go-to-market strategies. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Catarina's bio:</b></p><p>Catarina Ricca is Business Development Manager at Ínclita Seaweed Solutions in Porto, where she has led the commercial side of the business since 2023. She trained as a biotechnologist at the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia of Universidade Católica Portuguesa and holds an MSc in Technology, Science and Food Safety from Universidade do Porto. She started her career in the lab, running yeast cultures in the beverage industry, before moving into genetics and preclinical work, then crossing over to the commercial side selling genetic tests to hospitals.She then spent thirteen years in software, mostly SaaS, doing business development and product management.</p><p>Ínclita was founded in 2018 as the first spin-off of CIIMAR, the marine research centre at the University of Porto. It develops seaweed-based active ingredients using green extraction methods and a biorefinery approach aimed at zero waste, starting with cosmetics and expanding into nutraceuticals, pet care, food, and biostimulants. The company reports five patents submitted, full traceability from sea to factory, and opened its own biorefinery in Portugal in 2026.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Timestamps:</b></p><p>00:00:00 - Introduction<br />00:02:29 - Deciding at fifteen to become a biotechnologist<br />00:20:24 - The three-hour conversation that led to Ínclita<br />00:23:50 - What Ínclita does and why it started with cosmetics<br />00:26:27 - Building a second revenue stream through co-development<br />00:38:45 - The emerald green extract nobody would buy<br />00:43:23 - Rebuilding the roadmap around colour and scent<br />00:49:21 - The green pre